30 Canadian Brides For N.Z. Airmen

Northern Advocate, 19 November 1941, Page 9

30 Canadian Brides For N.Z. Airmen

: [Per p ress Association—Copyright.] | WELLINGTON, This Day. Thirty New Zealand airmen who had gone to Canada under the Empire | Training Scheme have married Canj adian girls, according to information | given to the' Wellington Travel Club yesterday by the secretary of the New ! Zealand Air Board (Mr. T. A. Barrow), who spoke of his tour of training scheme centres in Canada. He added that if some of the girls he saw were a fair average, he could say they were very charming indeed. ‘‘The conduct of our lads in Canada has been outstandingly good,” said Mr. Barrow. “Not one had given any cause for complaint up to the time I left there a fortnight ago. “We take great pride in them as they carry the reputation of this country in their hands, and they are exceptional ambassadors for New Zealand.” “Down Under” Club Somewhere on the eastern seaboard a “Down Under” Club, in which Professor Bennett, formerly of Auckland, took a keen interest, was functioning in what was almost entirely a wartime town. Its peacetime population was not more than 15,000, but it had an itinerant population of 25,000 men engaged in war service training. Mr. Barrow had seen 750 New Zealanders there, and had been informed that if everyone became ill, they could be placed without cost in private homes within a radius of 25 miles of the town. Happy, Contented Groups of girls organise dances and fishing parties. Eight out of 10 people there had never heard much of New Zealand or Australia before the advent of the Empire Training Scheme, but the influence of the men had been such that these conditions no longer existed. Mr. Barrow said there were a very large number of New Zealand airmen training in Canada, and they were happy and contented. All paid a wonderful tribute to their instructors and the hospitality of the Canadian people. At one re-mustering centre, where the service of 12 expert psychologists were retained, a young Maori from Dannevirke was head of the school and was highly regarded.